Changes to the way council homes are allocated will be made if a new policy is agreed at Cabinet.

A consultation on proposed changes to the housing allocations scheme ran from 10 March to 12 May, where there were 1,002 responses.

Feedback from the consultation will be presented to councillors at Cabinet on Monday 20 July.

They will be asked to approve the policy, which sets out who can join the housing register, how housing applications are assessed and how priority for housing is determined.

They’ll also be asked to approve the temporary suspension of the housing register for a maximum of two weeks to enable the migration and re-registration of housing applicants to be completed. This is programmed for November.

Among the changes proposed are reducing the household income threshold from £55,000 per year to £39,059; reducing the amount of savings/assets threshold from £20,000 to £16,000 (in line with welfare benefits); stopping adequately housed people from joining the register; awarding young carers their own bedroom and increasing same sex bedroom sharing from 16 to 18 years old.

Councillor Iftakhar Ahmed, lead member for housing, homelessness and communities said: “This was the first review of the housing allocations policy in many years. The updated policy brings our requirements in line with many other boroughs, with our focus on improving fairness and transparency, while continuing to prioritise those in most housing need.

“We know demand outweighs supply in terms of the number of properties available, so being assessed against the new criteria will give applicants a more realistic idea on the waiting times.

“Those currently on the list don’t have to do anything yet. They will be contacted by our housing allocations team and advised on what they need to do next and by when.”

If the new policy is approved, it is expected it will come into effect on 30 November.

Any new applications before then will be assessed under the current Housing Allocations Policy.

Everyone currently on the housing register will be required to re-register to ensure details are up to date and to be assessed against the new criteria.

There will be a phased approach to re-registering, at the end of July and start of November, with Band A and those households owed a main homelessness housing duty who are currently living in temporary accommodation, first.

If applicants remain eligible, the new application will be backdated to the original date they joined the housing register.

There will be more information on the re-registration process published soon, along with a Q&A section. Visit the housing register webpage for updates.

The Cabinet papers are published online.